Alice II
by anna.jug
Summary: What if Bella met James before she moved to Forks and had to live with him the last couple years? What is Alice's part in the story? Normal pairing, Edwards POV, I don't own Twilight only the plot. The characters belong to wonderful Stephenie Meyer. Rated K for the first chapters, will turn T later.
1. Chapter 1 meeting Isabella

__Chapter 1 - meeting Isabella

_Purgatory _I thought, _my very own purgatory_. After I spend the night trying to ignore the perfectly set couples I used to live with and considered as family, the dawns finally broke. But this fact couldn't lighten my mood; it only meant that it was time to get ready for school. School – my personal hell. Much worse than just trying not to listen to the very physical things my family did, but to be confronted with hundred minds of stupid, hormones teenager and their foolish teacher.

I lifted myself of my leather couch, closing my journal and turned the music of. At this very moment I heard my favorite sister Alice grasps. I looked for her mind, which I had tried to ignore all the hours before, but saw nothing. Jasper felt her confusion and was right next to her, as was our whole family within a second.

"What's going on Alice, why can't you see anything?" I asked her, feeling all heads turn to me, to look back to Alice, who seemed to be completely surprised. "I don't get it, I have no idea. Something very important seems to be arising, but I have no plan what it could be. Too many decisions are still to come."

"Something with us, some visitors?" Esme asked worried, "Is anyone suspicious?" Carlisle wanted to know. "Please look out again." Jasper asked his wife, who tried to concentrate hard, but all she could see was a stock-market change, a new girl in school and a bank-robbery in Port Angeles.

"I have no Idea guys, I think we should just move on, like every normal day, there should be plenty of time to cope with a new situation, when it arises, just look out and be warned."

And so we left our parents and drove to school, Alice still trying to catch the future, Jasper feeling his wife's concern, which stressed him as well, me monitoring her thoughts and his reactions, Emmet easy as always and Rosalie thinking about a 26th honeymoon. I couldn't remember if Emmet has ever been worried and as I couldn't forget anything that meant he was never worried about anything. And well Rose was Rose.

Due to our discussion earlier the day we were rather late so my usual parking lot was already occupied. I managed to find a spot next to an old, rusty truck, which must belong to the new girl, as it was an unknown vehicle at the school. I heard Rosalie complaining about the spot, parking next to something which called itself a car, but I tried to ignore her. As if the ancient truck could threaten my Volvo, ridiculous.

Alice and I had nearly the same schedule, as had Rosalie, Emmet and Jasper. They claimed to be in their last year, while Alice and I pretended to be younger. Luckily the teachers stopped asking us questions after a few months, after they realized that there wasn't anything we didn't know and started to ignore us. Some teacher would try us, but in the end it was always and always the same. Hell - like I said.

I was looking forward to lunch, as I heard that Emmet used the time to make up a prank on Jasper. It would be a good one, but as I already knew the outcome, I was slightly interested. Still a distraction. When I opened my mind looking for Jasper I heard everybody thinking about Isabella Swan, the new girl. I internal mourned about the narrow-minded human nature. I couldn't see why everybody was so thrilled about talking to her, as if the addition to the student body would change the emptiness of the world. I heard Jessica Stanley looking at us to fill Isabella in into the rumors about the Cullens. I wondered if Isabella was stupid enough to believe the shit Jessica told her. But I couldn't hear anything next to Jessica, as if she was talking to herself. So I needed to double check it and turned. Just in this moment Jessica told Isabella "These are the Cullens: Emmet and Edward Cullen, Rosalie and Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen." In the second Jessica told her the last name and I turned to look into Isabella's eyes I snatched a shocked look of deep brown eyes, Isabella let the tray she was carrying fall and run out of the cafeteria. Everybody looked around, seeing her leaving, but after a few seconds all collected themselves and began chattering again. Only Jessica stood still in the middle of the cafeteria scolding herself for being nice to Isabella. She just wanted the attention Isabella gained reflecting on herself, but making a fool of herself didn't helped her reputation, time to start spreading rumors of Isabella she decided and I turned off her annoying monologue.

I turned around to my family and looked to a disturbed Alice "She run, because of me" she whispered to our family. "I can't see anything, but it involves her, I need to find out!" And with that unveiling she got up and followed Isabella's scent. The rest of us followed her lead and she led us to one of the girl's bathrooms. We stood there, unsure how to continue, when Alice turned to me, asking me mentally what the girl was thinking. I told her that I wouldn't listen to the girl using a bathroom, but as Alice started to pout, I tried. But still – nothing.

"I can't hear anything." I told my family, "If I couldn't hear her heartbeat I would assume the room was empty. Jasper, can you feel anything?" "Well I feel stress and anxiety, but not like other humans do when they come near us. She feels concerned. I'm not sure, her emotions are quite complex." Jasper whispered so low that only my family could hear. Than we heard a phone number being called and a few seconds later Isabella's voice, she must be calling somebody.

"Anna, hur mår du? Det är Bella" We heard her speaking Swedish with someone on the other end of the phone (Anna, how are you? It's Bella). "Var snäll och hjälpa mig, kan du handla mig Caro's telefonnumret? (Please help me, can you give me the phone number of Caro?) We heard the woman Anna telling her a number and they end the call. After a few seconds we heard Bella breathing and then dialing another number.

"Hallo Caro, ich bin's Bella…. _Alice, die Zweite?..._ Ja genau die, es tut mir Leid, dass ich dich anrufe, ich hoffe ich störe dich nicht…_kein Problem, schieß los, es ist ja nicht so als ob du mich aufgeweckt hättest (Caro lachte)_…. Ja da hast du wohl Recht (Bella holte tief Luft) da du die Erste warst und am meisten über sie gehört hast… wie sieht Alice Cullen genau aus?"

„Hi Caro, it's Bella…. _Alice, the second?... _Exactly, I'm sorry for calling, I hope I don't disturb you… _No problem, not like waking me up, right (she chuckled)…_right (Bella breathed deeply) as you were the first and heard about her the most… what exactly does Alice Cullen look like?"

I heard my whole family gasp, but tried to focus on the call.

_"Why are you asking? If you want to end your life be brave and just do it! I won't stop you, are you crazy for asking this question after all?_... Please I'm sorry for upsetting you, I'm not asking you for chatting about the good old times… there's a vampire in my school and her name is Alice Cullen, so please tell me that it's not her, tell me that I didn't accidentally run into her! Please tell me that there are dozen Vampires out there named Alice Cullen... _Wow! That's crazy. At least it isn't such an unusual name…_ Can we get over it; I need to go to my next class. Can you please just tell me what she looks like… _Ok, let's see. All I know is him talking about her as a little black haired tiny pixie_… (Bella moans)… _Bella? Are you alright?..._Short or long hair?... _Bella you know that, really short, due to the treatments_… Yes, I remember, thanks Caro. _Are you alright? _We'll see, don't tell him I called, ok? _Ok._

My family seemed to be in shock, Alice couldn't believe what she just witnessed and so are the rest of us. But we hear Bella heading to the door so we run to our classes, not to be caught.

I arrived my next one, Biology, just in time to get settled, ignoring everyone, just thinking about what we just witnessed. The girl didn't only knew about my family being vampires, but has also knowledge of a vampire named Alice Cullen. This couldn't be a coincidence, not as Alice couldn't remember her past and couldn't check her future any longer. This must be because of the girl – Bella.

While I thought about her and her mysterious call and was looking out for the thoughts of my siblings, I heard Mr. Banner (my biology teacher) say my name. "You can sit next to Edward" telling Bella to take the empty seat next to mine.

Great! – I need to know what's going on, I should be nice to her, maybe I get her to talk, I thought to myself. But just in the second I started to breathe in to tell her my name, I caught her scent and the monster inside me surfaced at once.


	2. Chapter 2 wonder pastilles

Chapter 2 - wonder pastilles

She noticed my eyes turning from golden to black and my hands grasping the table to get a hold, telling myself I couldn't kill her as she could be the key to Alices' past. I owed it my little sister; I could never forgive me to take her chance of knowing. I stopped breathing at once, trying to focus on my family and the risk of revealing our true nature. I even tried to listen to the stupid humans around us to forget about her scent. But I was still caught in her beautiful, deep brown eyes. Instead of running away her expression turned into a pity look as if she knew what she was doing to me, but still wasn't running. In contrary she took the seat next to me and settled down. Maybe Caro, the woman she called, was right. Maybe Isabella Swan was suicidal and she wanted me to lose control. How could she be so stupid knowing of my true nature to settle down when she noticed my struggles? Eventually she turned to me, but hold her distance, putting a small, beautiful locket on the table between us.

"Take one out and put it under your tongue, please try, I promise it will help!" She told me with her breathtaking voice. Maybe she didn't know that I was a Vampire, too? That would explain why she offered me a pastille from the locket. What a stupid Idea to offer a vampire some sweets. But her begging look didn't let me go and I told myself to do her an favor, at least I wanted to become her friend so she would tell me about Alice, I just wouldn't swallow it. It would be uncomfortable, but sitting already next to this girl nothing could be worse. That was why I took one of the pastilles and put it under my tongue. Once there all my pain was gone. The thirst burning my throat and never vanished, not even after hours of hunting, had left. I hardly could remember the feeling. I've never felt like that since my change, about 90 years ago. I couldn't understand it, had I died, was my time within purgatory over? I heard a voice that said "Take a breath" and I did, I looked around and everything was the same, everything smelled the same, I could still hear the other human's thoughts, but the pain was gone. I turned left and found Bella's eyes watching me. "Better?" she whispered. And all I could do was to nod. After a few seconds full of astonishment I was able to speak. "What is this?" I asked her.

"One of my vampire friends, Anna, created this to stop the pain. You tried cream, which is a very neutral flavor, but I got different ones at home. As I know how my scent appeals to your kind I use to carry some of them always with me. I'm glad you trusted me to try one, I wouldn't want to cause you pain…"

"That's amazing! Thank you so much for giving me one, you have to tell me all about you and Anna and these pastilles, how do they work?" I drifted from one to another question.

Her light giggle stopped me "Later" was all she said, which was good because just in this moment Mr. Banner began his class-quiz.

The lesson passed quickly, especially as I was occupied in experiencing the most wonderful present in my whole life. Even as the class was boring I enjoyed all the new smells, which I normally tried to block. But most of the time I spend watching my little wonder, Bella. She was the most beautiful creature I've ever seen and she still smelled wonderful, but the monster inside me had gone.

After class I begged her to meet my family and asked her, if I could give them some of the pastilles as well. She agreed to join me and told me to keep the locket. The most wonderful gift ever. Some parts of my brain already started to think about things I wanted to give her in return, but nothing seemed big enough.

We meet Emmet and Jasper nearby our car and I introduced them. As Jasper told me, Bella was completely relaxed and didn't mind our company, which satisfied me in a way I wouldn't imagine. I showed them the locket and told them to take one of the pastilles. Both of them thought of a prank and refused first, but I was able to convince Jasper, as he felt, that I was absolutely serious about it. Once he took it I couldn't stand his thoughts, as he was the one who had the biggest problems with his inner monster. As he wanted to start thanking me I told him to thank Bella and he took her in his arms and didn't want to let her go. Emmet, surprised by Jasper's behavior and never seeing him that close to a human before and didn't want to seem like a little girl, took his pastille and jointed Jasper at once, who still hugged Bella. It took all his effort not jumping and shouting out load his pleasure, as it would reveal his inhumanity.

And I could help myself hearing the joy of my brothers and started to laugh.

After the first overwhelming happiness was gone, Bella started to speak:

"I'm very happy for you to fell this way, but be warned! Your thirst is just numbed. It is still there, but as long as you keep the pastille within your system, well let me clarify, connected to your venom, you won't feel it. But as soon as to take it out, you will feel it again. So don't stop hunting, you still need to feed yourself. It is a great gift, but be careful and responsible using it! I've got different flavors to numb your thirst at home and I will be happy to hand them to you, but only if you promise to use them in a controllable way. Always imagine that you could loose your pastille, so always be prepared. Promise?"

Of cause all of us promised and she smiled happily to all of us.

At that moment Alice and Rosalie came to join us and Emmet ran towards them, dragging them towards us. All of us could feel him bouncing, eager to give the love of his life the same gift, he just got. Alice was still pissed, that she couldn't see our future any longer, but Jasper sent her waves of calm, eagerness and excitement, so she curiously came to him.

"Bella, these are Rosalie and Alice" Jasper introduced the girls Bella hadn't recognized yet. But in the very moment she saw them, fear and adrenalin run through her system and she excused herself, running away from us, telling that she needed to go home.


	3. Chapter 3 impatience

Watching her leave in her old truck, Alice shouted out in frustration and Jasper needed a lot of energy to calm her down. I told her to give Bella time and then distracted her by handing her a pastille. Both girls were also extremely happy and soon we began to discuss their existence and ingredients. Rosalie even tried to destroy one of them, but failed. That's when we decided to call Carlisle to meet us at home were we had different resources than on a school parking lot.

Like expected Carlisle and Esme were amazed and unbelievable happy about their new life quality and as Carlisle tried to find out more about them, Esme made all of us swear to invite Bella, because she wanted to thank her for one of the greatest gifts personally.

After a while we began to tell them about Bella and her mysterious behavior, the phone calls and the fact that she was befriended with Vampires. Carlisle told us that she lived in the basement of Mrs. Gelow's house, an old widow, in Forks. Carlisle also heard that she was an orphan, but he wasn't sure if his source was trustworthy.

The first day in my life as a vampire I was eager to go to school to get to know all about the mysterious case of Isabella Swan.

Carlisle decided that Alice should stay in the back as obviously Bella was some kind afraid of her, while she didn't cared about talking to us boys. I was happy that I would be the one talking to her, as she knew me best.

Alice was annoying. After she cried and pouted to be allowed to talk to Bella, (but Carlisle resisted, which was a hard job) Alice started to tell me thousands of questions in her mind to ask Bella. Finally I asked Jasper to take Alice to hunt as I couldn't bear it any longer.

We sat in our usual parking lot one hour before the first lesson started, all of us being too eager to stay at home any longer. I felt relieved when I heard her old truck getting closer to school. Finally I was able to see it and followed her with mine eyes and all the other people's minds till she finally found an empty slot. I found myself walking towards her as soon as she started to leave her car and had to remind myself to use human speed. Due to this I couldn't open her door as she was already closing it when I finally arrived.

"Good morning Bella"

"Hi Edward, how are you?"

"You have no idea" I smiled, I had no words for the happiness I felt. "How are you?"

"I'm ok."

"What was your afternoon like?" I asked her, eager to know what she did after I saw her the last time. Show interest, that's what friends do.

"Well, I'm living at Mrs. Gelow's place and as she's very old and alone I'm helping her, cooking and washing and stuff. In return I'm allowed to live at her house." I needed to suppress my chuckle thinking, that Mrs. Gelow was more than two decades younger than me. But at the same time I wondered why a high school student needed to care for the own living.

"Seems to be an interesting arrangement." I commented.

Bella shrugged her shoulders. "It was the only way to finish high school."

"You seems to be very responsible and mature, how old are you?"

"16, I skipped a class."

"Not only beautiful, but smart." I saw her blushing. Yesterday I would have had to keep my breath, but now I was totally relaxed and wanted to know everything about her. Not only for Alice's sake, but for myself, Bella was the most fascinating person I've ever met.

"That's impressive, really!"

"I had no choice; I needed to grow up fast." "What do you mean?" I wanted to know.

"My parents died a few years ago." "I'm very sorry." And I was, even if I didn't remember my parents very well, I would never forget the feeling I felt, when Carlisle told me that they were dead. Bonding due to the same fate, another way to befriend.

"I'm an orphan, too." I told her.

"Yeah" she said "but you're probably hundreds of years old so this seems to be quite normal, right?"

I chuckled "Yeah, probably."

"Still, I'm sorry." She told me sincere and looked me deep in my eyes. If I had a heartbeat, I promise it would have stopped.

To this point I had already walked her to her first class and I needed to leave, to go to my own. I had to force myself to turn, as every fiber of my body refused to go.

I followed her the whole day thru the eyes of her classmates and couldn't wait for lunch to be able to talk to her again. I was so distracted in the morning that I totally forgot to invite her to our house.

I waited in front of her classroom and eventually she came out, seeming surprised when she saw me. We grabbed something to eat and I invited her to join our table. I saw her checking who sat there, but then she nodded and followed me. I guessed it was because of Alice and luckily she followed Carlisle's order and didn't join us.

The others greeted Bella friendly and she seemed to be totally comfortable sitting and eating with us.

Emmet was eager to help Alice and thought that my way of getting Bella talking was too slow.

"So Bella, tell us how do you know about us?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story and this is probably the wrong place for telling you." She told us hesitating.

Emmet grumbled, but let it go after I shot him a glance.

"This reminds me to thank you in our parents' names for your marvelous gift and to invite you to our place. They would love to get to know you and to thank you in person."

"There is really no need to…"Bella said shyly.

"Please visit us!" Emmet said and Jasper and I joined him.

Bella blushed terribly, but eventually said yes and I felt very lucky.


	4. Chapter 4 approaching

I drove Bella's truck and followed my sibling as we headed to our house. Alice had called Carlisle that Bella would come why my parents already waited for us on the porch.

Bella looked impressed when she saw our house but kept silence. Jasper told me that she felt nervous and I took her hand and let her toward the house to meet our parents.

"Bella, these are our parents Esme and Carlisle Cullen."

"It's very nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen." Bella said.

"Carlisle." Carlisle said. "We are so happy to meet you."

Esme looked at our hands and grinned internally and stepped forward and gave Bella a careful hug.

"Thank you so much, darling." She told her. "I'm Esme. Please come in!"

Bella seemed a bit stunned but followed her without hesitance.

We went to the living room and everybody settled down on the sofas and loveseats. I still hold Bella's hand and she seemed quite comfortable.

"Please Bella tell us how you know about us and how it comes that you have these wonderful pastilles?" Carlisle started as he was the head of our family.

"Well, were shall I begin… One of my closest friends – Anna – is a vampire. I met her a few years ago, but this is a different story. She calls herself a vegan vampire and was already a vegetarian whilst she was human. She was a great scientist and after her chance she started to experiment with different things to feed herself at the beginning. As she, like I said, already was a vegetarian she never thought about hunting people, but she couldn't cope with hunting animals either. In the end she is feeding from human blood, but donation based. She owns her own blood-bank and pays the humans. It is a nice part time job, especially for students and she really cares about the donators. She lives in Sweden and has a big laboratory and assistances where she develops these pastilles and other supply for vampires. If you are interested I'm happy to give you her number and you can exchange about your lifestyles or whatever."

"Wow, that sounds amazing. I would love to get to know her." "All right, no problem. But there is one condition. If you contact her, you are not allowed to tell her where you or I live. Is that ok for you?"

Everybody nodded in agreement and Bella told Carlisle Anna's number. After that she revealed some small boxes from her bag.

"I've got some more pastilles with different flavors for you. These are strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. I hope you'll like it."

"Of cause we do, honey, thank so much" Esme said "I can't remember the taste of chocolate, but I know I loved it."

"Well, Anna was not only a scientist, but a very good cook, too during her human life. She just refused to lose this and started experimenting. She wanted to be able to taste different flavors besides blood. Eventually she developed her first pastilles. The Volturi support her researches, especially financially. By the way the whole Volturi clan uses them too, so you don't need to worry about side effects or so."

"But if the Volturi know about it, why haven't we heard about this amazing invention." Emmet wanted to know.

"I asked Anna the very same question and she told me that this was another way to solidify their power."

"As you even know so much about the Volturi, please tell us how you are connected with the vampire world." Carlisle wanted to know. "You said you had your vampire friend Anna, how did you met and became friends?"

"Well this is kind of a difficult story… But I think I should tell you… Probably you know already a lot about it… I guess Alice and I have a common… friend - James."

The whole room went silence and everyone started to look confused to Bella and Alice.

Alice had stayed in the back the whole time Bella spoke, but now came closer to her, stunned.

"What do you mean, Bella?" Alice asked.

Now it was Bella's time to look confused as she recognized all our unknown faces.

"Haven't you told them, Alice?" She whispered.

"I thought you were a family, how could you keep this from them?" Bella asked bewildered.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Alice whimpered.

Bella looked at her shocked. "Really?" Alice nodded.

"I'm so sorry for the confusion, in this case you are not the Alice Cullen I mend, please forgive me for being so mean to you, but I thought you were _our_ Alice Cullen. I never met her before, but you looked like her description. But you're completely right, you can't be _our_ Alice." I heard Jasper thinking that Bella was really relieved, but at the same time he felt frustrated because he knew that Alice suffered of her missing past.

"I'm so sorry guys for freaking out!" Bella told us and we started to tell her that we were fine.

"Well, Bella" Alice started "actually I have the feeling that I am your Alice Cullen."

"What!?" Bella started to panic and Jasper sent her waves of calm. "Please don't tell me that Alice, you said that didn't know James."

"Bella – I know nothing about my past. The first thing I remember is waking up in the basement of an empty house as a newborn vampire. The only thing I know from my human life is that my name was Alice. That's all. If I wouldn't have found Jasper and the others I would be a wild creature, completely on my own."

"That sounds reasonable." Bella started talking to herself and began to walk up and down the room.

"That would explain…. And fits to Caro's explanations."

After a few minutes, while Alice became more and more nervous and impatient, Bella stopped and began talking to us.

"But we can't be sure. It could be you, but if not?"

"Maybe you just tell us?" Emmet suggested.

"No, I can't! Maybe if it was you, but no, not if it isn't you, not as long we can't be sure!"

"Isn't there any way to prove it?" Esme asked.

"Yes, maybe you know something we could check?" Carlisle proposed.

Alice started jumping up and down, eager to prove herself. "Please, Bella. Think?" She pouted.

"Alright Alice, I'm thinking. But to be honest: wish that it is not you! Pray to prove wrong!" Bella said seriously. "I'm so determined to only tell you when proven, because it is not a nice story! And I want nobody to believe that this is her or his past if there's the slightest doubt. Understand? I want to protect you!"

"Alright Bella, I understand." Alice said seriously and concerned.

"Ok. What do I know about the Alice Cullen today?" Bella began to think out loud.

"She lives with a coven and they are moving quite often so it's hard to find them. But that is nothing special. Oh! Now I know something! James has a spy who reports all important events continuously. But the spy must be very careful, because in Alice's coven lives a mind reader! Quod erat demonstrandum (Latin for: what was to prove)! That's the ultimate prove – it can't be you!" Bella cheered.

Every member of our family had turned to sculptures.


	5. Chapter 5 revelations

"Actually I am a mind reader." I finally coaxed and Bella's joyful expression turned to shock.

"A spy!" Emmet shouted, jumped from his seat and stared angrily in the round, but I ignored him, we would deal with this part later, I knew for sure that it was none of our family.

"That means you already know!" Bella claimed "or is your gift not working at me?"

"How do you know this?" I asked her. "It is true; you are the first person whose mind I can't read."

"Comforting" she said. "I am a mental shield, I'm glad it's working for you, too."

"Can we please return to our topic?!" Alice interrupted us. "Now it is proven, as long as we know Aro is the only other mind reader, can you please tell me about myself?"

"I'm sorry." Bella said "Are you sure you want to know? It is no happy story."

"Yes please." Alice whispered.

"Ok, shall I tell you privately or do you want me to do it in front of your family?" Bella asked.

"Here please, we don't have any secrets."

"Alright." Bella took a deep breath and wanted to begin but just in that moment Alice frizzed and went into the stiffness she always fell, when she had a vision.

I only got a few glances as she tried to keep me off her thoughts, but I saw how terrified she was. Jasper hugged her immediately and held her close.

"Alice? Are you ok?" Rosalie asked. "Yes, please Bella begin."

"Ok. Your complete name is Mary Alice Brandon and you were born at the beginning of the last century in Biloxi, Mississippi. I don't know much about your family background, I only know that your mother was dead and your father, stepmother and aunt took you to an asylum…(everyone gasped). James told me once, that they did this secretly and pronounced in public that you died. I'm very sorry Alice."

"It's ok." My sister said with low voice. "Please continue."

"That was about the time, when James found your scent. He became really mad when he heard that you died and slaughtered many families in revenge. At that time his self-control lacked. But eventually he found your scent again and he learned that your family faked your death.

You need to know that James is a tracker and you were his singer and James gets what he wants and obviously he wanted you.

When he found your asylum you were gone. He couldn't explain how you were able to escape and he was furious. He followed your scent, but you were not alone. He tracked the scent of another vampire who was with you. You were very good at escaping and he still doesn't know how you managed it. But finally he found the two of you, but before he could reach you, the other vampire bit you. Naturally James killed the vampire. However when he finally got to you, the transformation was so far in progress he couldn't stop it anymore and as he didn't wanted the burden of a newborn he left you alone in your hiding place."

After a long pause Alice asked if Bella knew anything about the other vampire, but Bella only knew that he worked in the asylum.

"When you called Caro you said something about Alice's hair and some treatments, what did you mean?" Rosalie finally asked.

"How do you know about the call?" Bella said.

"Sorry, when you left the cafeteria we kind of followed you." Emmet admitted.

"Oh" was all Bella said. "Well it was kind of a normal thing to shave the heads of inmates during the 20ies. Due to the flight her hair grew again. Referring to the length of Alice's hair I would guess it took James about a year to finally find them."

That was the breaking point for Alice and she sobbed uncontrollable in Jasper's chest.

"You're right." Carlisle said. "They did that to avoid typhoid. Another common treatment was the electroshock therapy. Maybe this is the reason why you lost your memories..." He got distracted thinking about this possibility.

"Maybe we should take a break?" Esme interrupted. "Bella may I offer you a drink or do you need something to eat? I really hoped that you would visit us, that's why I bought a few things for you."

"Thank you Esme, that really isn't necessary!"

"Please honey, that's no problem."

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Ok, let me know if I can get you anything."

Bella nodded.

"But how do you fit into the whole story, how are _you_ related to James." Carlisle finally asked.

"Maybe I continue the story chronologically?" Bella asked and we nodded.

Bella needed a few minutes to collect herself and proceeded.

"As Alice was James singer there was no higher goal to reach than to get her blood, but as this goal was unattainable he created a whole new universe for himself to approach it. There is one thing you need to know about James: he is lethal and insane and the world's best tracker. He is even better than Demetri, but he refused to join the Volturi, because he follows only his own rules and targets. But Aro is still hoping so they give him a special treatment. That means he can do a lot of things without being punished.

Before he found Alice he only lived for the thrill of the hunt and was not used of being thwarted, he loved the challenge, so he used to hunt special and protected human.

Anyway he changed after he found Alice and decided to find humans whose smell would remind him of Alice. Her change and that he believed her to be dead first showed him the fragility of men and so he worked on his control and went looking for Alice's successor.

He found Caro first, that's why I called her, she knows the most about the early years of James creating his imperium. But in those days he was still not used to control himself and he changed her incidentally. But this time he kept her and started his imperium, which means that he looked for help with his newborn and housekeeping stuff so he could travel around the world to find his substitutes.

He didn't wanted to do the same mistake he did with Alice, because he thought that he would just find her again after her first years as a newborn, to bring her home in his kingdom. But he couldn't find her. Eventually the Volturi told him that she became a Cullen, a member of a very strong coven and that they had a mind-reader. That's why James decided to keep a close watch on you guys, but not directly so you wouldn't know it."

"Who is the spy?" Carlisle asked seriously.

"His name is Laurent. He is the boyfriend of one of your friends, Irina Denali. But I'm quite sure that they have no clue about Laurent's real mission. I'm positive that none of you ever met him, right?"  
"Yes, you're right, dear" Esme said. "Every time we visited each other Laurent was hunting or traveling or busy. Irina was quite frustrated because she wanted us to meet him, remember?" She asked us.

Yes, indeed I did remember and I knew what he looked like, Irina showed us some pictures. She was head over heels with this guy and I felt not only betrayed for this family, but also for her. She was a sweet woman with a big heart. I had only friendly feelings for her, but nobody so nice deserved a broken heart.

Emmet and Jasper hissed at these revelations, but Esme shot them a sternly look.

"Anyways, Bella, would you mind to continue, we will deal with this later." I asked her.

"Sure. Where was I? Alright. The most dangerous tracker of the world turned into a collector. His only mission was to find and save scents which reminded him of his singer. These are usually girls or young woman. I was told that he once had a man, but he died very soon after his arrival."

"What kind of arrival, what is he doing with these people?" Esme interrupted.

"The arrival at his kingdom, or in other worlds the castle of pain, hopelessness and devastation. He owns an old castle in Germany, where he keeps all of his collectibles. He hunts them all over the planet and brings them there. I heard that he even turned his mother into a vampire because she is the only one he trusts and she is the old evil queen of the castle. She keeps the business running while he is apart. And she looks after his Alice's."

"What do you mean with "Alice's?"

"Well the humans in his castle aren't people who deserve a name, they are his dessert, his reminder, his pet, whatever, the only thing that matters is their number, which tells him how worthy someone is. You Alice, are Alice the first, his goddess and singer, you are the one he worships. All other humans are mud to him. There are only a few chosen ones, who smell good enough to be compared to you.

Caro really is Alice the 4th, Anna is Alice the 5th. They belonged to the early ones whom he accidentally turned; a lot of them died unintentionally or were killed, like Alice the 3rd. Anna told me the highest number she ever witnessed was Alice the 87th. But he wasn't really careful with the high numbers so he stopped looking for preys which were above a fifty. He just hunts those, but wouldn't bother to bring them to his home, he just kills them."

"Oh my god, how can something so terrible happen?" Esme sobbed quietly.

"Bella told us already, love" Carlisle reminded her, "Aro lets him."

"Today there are about 15 women who constantly live with him, or to be honest are his hostages and slaves, but the number is permanently changing. Just as the magnitude, to imagine his harem. Plus a teacher and a doctor and well his mother who watches it all.

The only way out is in a coffin. The only exceptions were Caro and Anna, after a few decades they bored him because they were vampires and they were allowed to leave him, but they are always on call and have to go to him whenever he wants it or he visits them unannounced.

That's why you shouldn't let Anna know where you're from, if James wants to know he will torture it out of her and he knows what he does, she wouldn't have a chance. And Alice shouldn't accompany you, if you decide to visit her one day."

"Of cause Bella. Thank you for the warning and telling us." Carlisle said.

"What is your part in all this?" I finally asked.

"Haven't you guessed yet?" Bella asked me.

"I'm still praying that you are not." I answered.

"Sorry" was all she said and smiled sadly.

"What?" Emmet interrupted us, "I still don't get it."

"Bella is an Alice, too." Alice said with tears in her eyes.

"Really? But you are neither dead nor a vampire!" He proclaimed.

"You're right Emmet, I'm the first exception from this rule ever."

"Cool!" My brother said.

"So which one are you? What is your number?" Emmet wanted to know and already started about ways to tease her. Six and every number related to it, would be his favorite and he had tons of jokes in his mind.

"Make an educated guess." Bella teased him.

"Alice the 6th!" He immediately shouted and Rose hit his head. "Yeah I know this would be too cool." He grumbled. "I bet it is between 20 and 30" he finally proclaimed.

But Bella only shacked her head and gave him a small smile.

"Any other guesses?" She wanted to know, but we shook our heads in return.

"Just tell us." Jasper said.

"You really want to know, huh?" She said and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"I'm Alice the 2nd."

If you want to know about Bella's life as Alice II. at Jame's castle of pain, review :-)

xo Anna


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